Macron just wants to go faster on the old tracks

Macron just wants to go faster on the old tracks

27 September 2017

Gregor Gysi, President of the European Left, on the proposals by the French President Emmanuel Macron concerning a new orientation of the European Union:

The French President Macron gave a speech yesterday at the Sorbonne about Europe spanning across a wide variety of topics. He called the EU “too slow, too weak, too inefficient” and talked about a re-foundation of Europe.

I welcome that the discussion about the future of the EU, which is in a deep crisis, has finally begun – also in Germany this discussion is urgently necessary. However, the proposals by Macron, just as the ones by the President of the European Commission Juncker, go in the completely wrong direction and do not change anything concerning the main causes of the crisis of the EU: The policy of austerity and the lack of binding social rights have led to the EU running out of breath – the crisis of the EU is mostly a social crisis. A re-foundation of the EU on a neoliberal base would accelerate the destruction of the European idea.

In addition, President Macron lists the protection of the borders and the military as fields of future cooperation. But isolation and the installation of a European intervention army contradict European values. Instead, Europe must aim for a system of collective security and a fair world trade.

Macron ideas don’t constitute a vision for Europe – he just wants to go faster on the old tracks and does not tackle or solve the major difficulties of European Integration.